joe lewis guide

8/12/2019 Joe Lewis Guide

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HOW THEBRUCE LEETRAININGMETHODMADE HIM(AND CANMAKE YOU)

A BETTERFIGHTER

by Dr. Jerry Beasley

Joe Lewis


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2 BLACK BELT blackbeltmag.com

DISCLAIMERBLACK BELT COMMUNICATIONS, an Active Interest Media Publication, as publisher, does not endorse and makes no representation, warranty or guarantee concerning the safety or effecteither the products and services advertised in this magazine or the martial arts or other techniques discussed or illustrated in this document. The publisher expressly disclaims any and all lirelating to the manufacture, sale or use of such products and services and the application of the techniques discussed or illustrated in this document. The purchase or use of some of the produservices or techniques advertised or discussed in this document may be illegal in some areas of the United States or other countries. Therefore, you should check federal, state, and local lawsto your purchase or use of these products, services or techniques. The publisher makes no representation or warranty concerning the legality of the purchase or use of these products, servand techniques in the United States or elsewhere. Because of the nature of some of the products, services and techniques advertised or discussed in this document, you should consult a physibefore using these products or services or applying these techniques. Specic self-defense responses illustrated in this document may not be justied in any particular situation in view of all circumstances or under applicable federal, state or local law. Neither Black Belt Communications nor the author makes any representation or warranty regarding the legality or appropriatenany technique mentioned or depicted in this document. You may be injured if you apply or train in the techniques illustrated in this document and neither Black Belt Communications nor theis responsible for any such injury that may result. It is essential that you consult a physician regarding whether or not to attempt any technique described in this document.

In the summer of 1968, Joe Lewis sold

his karate school to friend and fellowchamp Chuck Norris. Following the urg-ing of his teacher, Bruce Lee, Lewis haddecided on a new career: offering privateself-defense lessons to wealthy clients inLos Angeles. To promote the endeavor,Lewis set up demonstrations at UCLA toprove that jeet kune do was superior toclassical karate.

The week before a demo was sched-uled, Lewis, whod taken JKD lessonsfrom Lee since 1967, would pore overthe details with his teacher. Theyd workout a program to showcase self-defenseand sparring using Lees protective gear.The day of the demo, Lewis would drive

DIRECT ATTACK: Joe Lewis (right) faces Perry Gibson. Instead of chambering hisst for the forward-hand strike, Lewis moves the weapon rst, making it more difcultfor the opponent to identify and evade the technique. He lands the blow before theopponent can react.

to Lees house to pick him up, then theyd

make their way to the UCLA fraternity thatwas sponsoring that particular event.Wearing a suit and tie, Lee would take

a seat near the stage, and Lewis would be-gin by announcing that jeet kune do wassuperior to other arts. The karateka wouldrun through a series of JKD strikes andkicks against the focus shields Lee hadbrought. He would spend hour after hour

training me to be able to show exactly what

he wanted people to see, Lewis recalled.As part of the demonstration, Lewiswould place a phone book against a vol-unteers chest and, using a JKD close-quarters punch, send him ying backward.

At the end of the program, Lewis woulddon gear and spar with a karate black belt.His purpose was to show how JKD madeit easier for him to hit his opponent. With

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Editors Note: This piece was originally published inthe February 2009 issue of Black Belt as The Trainer and

the Fighter: Joe Lewis Recalls His Glory Days TrainingWith Bruce Lee and Competing on the Circuit. For more

articles about Joe Lewis, click here . For more articlesabout Bruce Lee, click here . For Bruce Lee books, DVDs,

e-books and video downloads, click here .
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INDIRECT ATTACK: Joe Lewis (right) squares off with Ian Marshall. Lewis fakes a hook kick to draw his opponents guard down,then follows up with a forward-hand strike to the chin. Lewis says that he and Bruce Lee created this combination for competition.

the audience invariably impressed, Lewiswould introduce his teacher, and Leewould take the stage. I think Bruce likedthe idea that I rst demonstrated the skills

and then told people that he was Americastop teacher, Lewis said.***

Bruce and I never sparred in demosor in training the subject never cameup, Lewis continued. The only time I eversaw him spar was when he paired up withDanny Inosanto at the 1967 InternationalKarate Championships in Long Beach,California. Both of them wore full-contactprotective gear.

In their workouts, Lee and Lewis en-gaged in something that may have beenmore benecial than sparring: interactiondrills. They helped me become cognizantof proper distance, timing and rhythm,Lewis said. Those are the cornerstonesof tactical ghting, but few ghters ever

JKD PUNCHING FOR MMA: Joe Lewis squats in his opponents open guard. He res a straight punch, which is less susceptible toentrapment than a typical hook punch. Lewis then redirects his energy so he can effect a raking backst to the mans face with thesame hand.

master them. Most instructors have noidea as to the best way to teach studentshow to use these skills. With rhythm andtiming, a ghter can beat a faster or stron-

ger opponent.Despite the fact that Lee seldomsparred, he encouraged his advanced stu-dents to do it. There is nothing better thanfreestyle sparring in the practice of anycombative art, Lee once said. In sparring,you should wear suitable protective gearand go all out. Then you can truly learn thecorrect timing and distance for the deliveryof kicks and punches.

Lee was meticulous when it cameto teaching his students how to performthose kicks and punches, Lewis said.Bruce would make sure my hand was in

just the right place, my elbow perfectly inline. He had a specic stance that I wasto use. I hear people say theres no tech-nique in jeet kune do, but the way Bruce

taught it, there were techniques he ex-pected you to learn.

One thing the two martial artists neverpracticed was kata. Lee wanted his stu-

dents to understand that creating fancyforms and classical sets to replace spar-ring is like trying to wrap and tie a pound ofwater into a manageable shape [in] a pa-per sack. For something that is static, xedor dead, there can be a way or a denitepath; but not for anything that is movingand living, like jeet kune do.

Sparring, Lee said, lives in the mo-ment. The highest technique is to have notechnique. Once the ghter steps on themat, he no longer represents a style. Hesfree to adapt and survive which is ex-actly what Lewis strived to do.

***When Bruce and I worked together,

he wouldnt use words like strategy ortactic, Lewis said. When we would study

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ght lms, he would point out the impor-tance of why a certain principle or strategywas working. For example, when JackDempsey, known for his explosiveness,would bridge the gap against an opponent,Bruce would emphasize to me why his trig-ger squeeze and quickness destroyed hisfoes defenses.

Lewis claims that Lee was fond of theconcept of relaxed explosiveness. Thisprinciple was one of the keys to why hissystem worked so well for me, Lewis said.I had many opponents tell me after I beatthem that I was so fast that they never sawme coming. Some were so overwhelmedthat they would ask me what technique Iused to hit them because they never sawit coming.

The secret of his success was his mas-tery of the skills Lee taught. Those skillswere conveyed for the most part duringweekly Wednesday workouts at Leeshouse. Being friends, the two spent many

weekends socializing, often watching box-ing lms. Willie Pep, reputed by many tobe pound for pound the best boxer of alltime, was the ghter whose footwork Bruceand I would study, Lewis said.

[Muhammad] Ali was another masterof rhythm, Lewis added. The boxers foot-work can be seen in Return of the Dragon, he claimed.

Most ghters today would do well tostudy the footwork of the JKD founder,Lewis said, because the majority of mar-tial artists still ght by attacking straight inand straight upright. This outdated styleof ghting makes you an easy target, headded. When you move using good foot-

work, called rhythm sets, you can keep anaggressive opponent contained, set himup and make it difcult to get hit. If you gethit, movement allows you to absorb anddissipate the incoming energy.

***Lewis said that Lee helped him bet-

ter understand how to conceptualize thefacets of ghting, including ring strategy.Without strategy, a ghter has no way toanchor his concentration of focus and hasnothing on which to base [the] timing [of]his trigger squeeze, Lewis said. Hes leftwithout any idea as to how he might bestset up his opponent or what tactics wouldwork best against him.

To clarify, he offered an example: Any-one ghting a taller opponent must knowthree basic tactics: how to move on theoutside; how to ght him from the pocket;and how to line him up, walk him to theropes and turn him. I work a great deal [on]teaching the cardinal rules of strategy that

I learned over many years. Movement andturning a couple of things I learned fromBruce are some of the best tricks Iveused in competition.

Lewis was the rst to teach such prin-ciples to sport-karate competitors. It allstarted when other ghters began ridicul-ing Lewis for listing Lee, whom they identi-ed as merely a kung fu practitioner, as histeacher.

Rewind to 1967. Lewis had just signedon as an ofcial student of Lees, and Leewas ringside at an exhibition match pittingLewis against top-rated Japanese stylistTonny Tulleners. Bruce sat in the frontrow behind my corner and coached me be-

tween rounds, Lewis said. That night, Iused a double side kick that Bruce and Ihad drilled on.

After Lewis won, Lee said, Thats thebroken-rhythm principle I taught you.The ghter went on to win the interna-tionals and the Jhoon Rhee Nationalsthat year.

By the end of 1968, Lewis had mas-

tered the principles of jeet kune do asthey applied to sport ghting. At the U.S.Karate Championships in Dallas, Lewis,undefeated in his 10 most recent titleghts, prepared to enter the ring. To quellthe complaints he often heard about thekung fu guy who never competed,Lewis told the promoter that he wantedto give a JKD seminar before the bout sohis opponents would know why he wassold on Lee. Lewis then demonstratedthe principle of independent motion andthe ve angles of attack.

I taught jeet kune do principles, ei-

ther directly or through others, to manyof the top ghters from the 60s and70s, Lewis said. Steve Nasty Ander-son came from our system. Before hestarted cleaning house with all the topblack belts, hed won 70 straight brown-belt titles. We knew before we madehim a black belt that he was going to begreat. He was a master of timing and dis-tancing, two key principles which Bruceencouraged me to perfect.

***The JKD principles he learned from

Lee still work in the ring, Lewis said. Theproblem today is that many instructorsnever eld-test the material they teach.

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HEAD-RHYTHM SEQUENCE: Joe Lewis (left) and his student prepare to begin a sparring drill (1) . The student opens with aforward-hand strike (2) , and Lewis counters with a simulated forward-hand strike, which the student slips to the inside to avoid(3) . The martial artists reposition themselves (4) , after which Lewis simulates a rear-hand strike that causes his partner to slipto the outside (5) . Lewis responds by presenting his focus mitt for a lead 45-degree strike (6) , a rear-hand strike (7) and a rear- leg kick (8) .

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Most of whats being taught was createdon someones desktop or in someonesmind but was never tested. I was BruceLees test tube. In 1968, during the peakof our training relationship, I won 11straight championships.

Lewis contends that the theoriesLee advocated, including putting onespower side forward, worked for all threeoriginal full-contact champs: Jeff Smith,Bill Wallace and himself. I won my rstkickboxing ght using Bruce Lees JKD

material with my power side forward,Lewis said. Jeff and Bill are both left-handed and based their entire ghtingcareers on putting their power side their left side forward.

One JKD technique remains Lew-is favorite: the lead-hand punch. He
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trained intensively with Lee for nine months to polish it before he tried it incompetition. Back in the 1960s, the lead hand was seldom used in karatecompetition because it was thought to have insufcient power to effecta killing blow. Lewis secret entailed retracting his hand as though hewas doing a backst, which prompted referees to label it a back-knucklestrike. Actually, its more like a fencing thrust using the st, Lewis said.

Lewis contends that the lead-hand strike, done the way Lee intendedit, is a viable technique for the 21 st century, whether youre sparring in aring, battling in a cage or defending your life on the street. Like most ofthe moves Lee taught, it can give you the edge you need to win no matterwhere you ght.

Dr. Jerry Beasley wasinducted into the 2000 Black BeltHall of Fame as Instructor of the

Year. A professor at RadfordUniversity in Virginia, he has

written books about jeet kune doand classical karate. He is also

the author of Dojo Dynamics:Essential Marketing Principles

for Martial Arts Schools, which isavailable by clicking here .

FOOT-RHYTHM SEQUENCE: Joe Lewis (right) faces his foe (1) . Lewis initiates with a forward-hand strike, which the man slips (2). Lewis changes his position as his opponent punches (3), after which he counters with a 45-degree strike that comes up fromunder the opponents punching arm (4) . The jeet kune do stylist nishes with a rear-hand strike to the face (5) and a knee thrust tothe torso (6).

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